Festivals, food & family

Spain at a glance

Where Europe, Africa, the Mediterranean and the Atlantic connect, Spain has a fascinating history, a diverse culture and five official languages: Catalan, Galician, Basque (Euskara), Aranese and Spanish. Embrace the rich local cuisines, lifestyles, festivals, architecture and music. Stroll trough the the bright and colorful cities and villages, and stop by one of the carts selling hot churros that you dip in thick, hot chocolate.

Fútbol (soccer) is the most popular sport, with fans passionately dedicated to the national team, La Roja (The Red One). Cycling, basketball, lectures and concerts take up a lot of teens’ free time. Weekend evening: parties, movies and hanging out in cafés or the local town square.

People & Community

You’ll most likely live in an urban or suburban area of Spain, even in the Canary or Balearic Islands. Many families eat both lunch and dinner together. You’re bound to enjoy the tradition of long, multi-course meals and mid-day siestas (when you can go home for lunch and a quick nap).Extended family members visit each other often, especially for large weekend gatherings.

School

You’ll likely attend a public high school with a variety of different classes like Spanish language, literature, and physical education. School runs from Monday to Friday, 8am to 3pm but you may have additional classes on some afternoons. It’s also customary for students to call their teachers by their first name.

Language

Spain has five official languages—Aranese, Catalan, Galician, Basque (Euskara) and Spanish. With Spain being a multilingual nation, 70% of the students hosted there live in bilingual communities where Spanish is not the primary language spoken in school and by the host family. However, Spanish language study is compulsory in all schools and many people are bilingual so you will still have the opportunity to practice your Spanish. AFS offers the Rosetta Stone Spanish course to prepare you for your exchange.

Food

While each region of Spain has its own food specialties, Spanish cuisine is generally Mediterranean in style with lots of olive oil, garlic, onions, tomatoes and peppers. Lunch is the main meal of the day and is served around 2 or 3 pm, while dinner may start as late as 9 pm when most family members can be together. Fish and seafood are abundant, but red meat and pork are also eaten nearly every day. With traditional Spanish tapas, you can try all different kinds of foods. Don’t miss the paella (rice with vegetables and seafood) and gazpacho (a cold tomato soup).

Let AFS guide your intercultural adventure

Go abroad with AFS to discover who you really are, make new lifetime friendships and immerse yourself in a fascinating intercultural experience.

TEEN PROGRAMS (UNDER 18 YEARS OLD)

Our learning program will prepare you for an amazing AFS intercultural experience. The program begins at your home country with a pre-departure orientation and continues with orientations and other supported learning activities and facilitated conversations will help you maximize your experience, cope the challenges of navigating a new culture and community and gain knowledge, skills, and a global understanding, throughout your time abroad, and as you return to you home country. AFS volunteers will be there to support and guide you and your host family through your learning journey abroad.

ADULT PROGRAMS (18 YEARS OR OLDER)

The Global Competence Certificate (GCC) program will support your intercultural learning experience. This state-of-the-art program prepares you to successfully navigate new cultural environments—during your AFSNext experience and long after you finish the program. Online intercultural learning modules combined with in-person sessions help you develop practical and global skills, knowledge and attitudes that employers need and mission-driven organizations believe will help achieve their social impact goals. You will receive your certification upon completion of the training program.